No Sound in OpenSUSE 10.2...

Krucifixation · 12-24-2006, 05:33 AM

I absolutely LOVE this distro, (nearly) everything that was lacking in 10.1 (the difficulties accessing support through Novell and the indecision as to exactly WHAT update scheme they were going to settle on are just a couple of that releases' problems) is gone in this release. It even has a whole new "Start Menu". The one thing it doesn't have (on my particular laptop) presently is sound...

Now let me say that the ONLY distro I've been able to coax sound out of so far has been Ubuntu/Kubuntu 6.06 and I've installed Fedora 6, Debian Sarge AND Knoppix 5, ALL from DVDs(!). Any you guys who've met me know that I'm NOT a computer expert by any stretch of the imagination, I just HATE MS WIndows and would LOVE to retire it for good. I've posed the problem to some of the other boards and have gotten no response so far, I've googled it as well with no result.

My laptop is a Gateway MX6214, The Northbridge is Intel's 945GM and the Southbridge is Intel's 82801GBM. The Windows audio is provided by SigmaTel 9250.

My onboard WiFi (GemTek Technology Co. BCM4311E) doesn't work either, as well the card reader (Texas Instruments PCI-8412, I THINK!) or the modem (Silicon Laboratories Si3080) BUT this is all gravy if I can get the sound up and running. I'm using a Proxim Orinioco Gold WiFi card (Atheros chipset) to connect to the web so that's no problem...

Anyone interested in helping me out can reach me via Skype (LATE at night as mentat.assassin) or by my email (same name as Skype except at gmail.com). It may be a minute before I can get back to this forum...

Thank you and have a good (and safe) holiday everyone.

- Kell

camorri · 12-24-2006, 07:00 AM

Since sound works under Ubuntu, boot up the CD or DVD, which ever you have, as a live CD. Make sure the sound is working. Open a konsole, and enter the followinf command, without the quotes. 'lsmod | grep snd*' This will list the sound modules necessary to run sound on Ubuntu.

The main piece of information you need is the sound module needed for your sound card. Here is what lsmod looks like on my system.

Code:

[root@sluggy ~]# lsmod | grep snd
snd_seq_dummy           2532  0
snd_seq_oss            31136  0
snd_seq_midi_event      5696  1 snd_seq_oss
snd_seq                46960  5 snd_seq_dummy,snd_seq_oss,snd_seq_midi_event
snd_pcm_oss            48960  0
snd_mixer_oss          16896  1 snd_pcm_oss
snd_es18xx             27208  2
snd_pcm                79784  3 snd_pcm_oss,snd_es18xx
snd_page_alloc          8392  1 snd_pcm
snd_opl3_lib            8672  1 snd_es18xx
snd_timer              20548  3 snd_seq,snd_pcm,snd_opl3_lib
snd_hwdep               6848  1 snd_opl3_lib
snd_mpu401_uart         5664  1 snd_es18xx
snd_rawmidi            19616  1 snd_mpu401_uart
snd_seq_device          6828  5 snd_seq_dummy,snd_seq_oss,snd_seq,snd_opl3_lib,snd_rawmidi
snd                    46116  15 snd_seq_oss,snd_seq,snd_pcm_oss,snd_mixer_oss,snd_es18xx,snd_pcm,snd_opl3_lib,snd_timer,snd_hwdep,snd_mpu401_uart,snd_rawmidi,snd_seq_device
soundcore               7008  1 snd

Notice the line snd_es18xx. This is the sound module for a Ensoniq 18xx sound cards. Usually you will need soundcore and snd as well. When I modprobed the sound driver, the other stuff got loaded.

Look through the listing you get with lsmod, try and figure out which module is loaded, and modprobe it on your Suse system.

The other way to get it going is to to find out what the hardware chip set is, or the card maker. Go to the ALSA site and find the driver that supports the card/chipset you have. This method is a little more difficult, and takes more research. Since you know the laptop maker, you could go to their web site, and go to support. Look for the specs for your machine. Most of them will tell you the audio card maker and the type of card you have.

Krucifixation · 12-25-2006, 02:17 AM

...for taking the time for my question, especially during this season...

I wanted to post my output from "lsmod | grep snd" inside Kubuntu 6.10's Live CD. This isn't the whole of the output, just what I believe to the relevant parts as per your previous instruction. This is as follows (configured slightly different than it appearred in the Konsole)...

snd
58372
8
snd_hda_intel,snd_hda_codec,snd_pcm_oss,snd_mixer_oss,snd_pcm,snd_timer

soundcore
11232
1
snd

I'll go ahead and say at this point that while I acted from the command line quite a bit (mostly apt-get install with Kubuntu and Debian)I'm unsure of what to do with "modprobe". I'm guessing this means "probe modules"? (As I imagine "lsmod" to mean "list modules")

I'll do my best with the rest of your post and post my results here. Thank you again...

- Kell

camorri · 12-25-2006, 06:55 AM

Could you take the time to post all the sound stuff? It looks like you re-typed the output, use the code button or quote button to post the output. One of the other lines is the sound driver that works with your hardware.

Once we know that, you need to use modprobe to load the KLM ( kernel loadable module ) in Suse to get sound going there.

Yes, modprobe loads KLM's, and can remove and can upload them also. There is a man page if you want to know more. lsmod lists the loaded modules.

Krucifixation · 12-25-2006, 07:19 AM

...I'll get the info up a little later today. I WILL say this, the sound WORKED when tested in set-up and modules SUSE loaded were the same as the working modules that Kubuntu 6.10 used. I'm guessing I'm breaking ALSA in the update process... Merry Christmas Cliff!

- Kell

Sepero · 12-25-2006, 07:40 AM

Use this command to save the output to a file:
lsmod | grep snd > sndmodules.txt

tato360 · 01-01-2007, 10:47 AM

I had the same problem and fixed it by following the steps on this page: http://www.softwareinreview.com/cms/content/view/60/
When your done, just make sure you add the user to the audio group in Yast, and you should be good to go.

Later!

Krucifixation · 01-02-2007, 03:32 AM

...I am overly dense. I've looked "Hacking OpenSUSE 10.2" up and down and have seen nothing in the guide that refers to configuring the sound system. This is the guide I used to set-up my install (after printing it out...), am I missing a link or something??? Thanks...

- Kell

tato360 · 01-03-2007, 06:44 AM

The sections I used were:
1) Adding sources to YaST,
2) Windows Media, MP3, and DVD playback support,
3) The Flash, Java, and RealPlayer browser plugins,
4) Proprietary audio and video codecs, and DVD playback capabilities
5) The Adobe Acrobat and Totem browser plugins,

I did what it said word for word, then just made sure that my user was in the audio group, and that made it work for me. Originally I was getting no sound, and when i would open kmix, there were no volume options. Hope it works.

Krucifixation · 01-03-2007, 10:44 AM

...HOW you added yourself to the "Sound Group". Everyone has been EXTRA helpful with their posts but all this about loading sound modules (modprobe and the like) is a bit beyond me. I've been able to get SUSE 10.2's sound working ONCE but it was a no-show again upon reboot. Thanks, to everyone for the attention...

cybertaz · 01-03-2007, 11:01 AM

go to YAST. go into the Security and User section. click on users. Choose your userid on the lower right. Top right is a list of groups. Check the audio group.

I'm doing this from memory so the location might be a little different. I think is the window layout.

Krucifixation · 01-04-2007, 03:01 AM

...just that easy. I added my User to the "audio" group and voila(!) the sound works... strangely, it doesn't ALWAYS work though. Sometimes I'll get a boot with no sound and I restart the mixer, then the computer and it works again. I'm just happy I can get it working at all, I love SUSE Linux...

- Kell